Radical Media is an advertising, marketing and production company known for, among other things, trademarking the term “radical media,” as well as threatening activists, artists and academics with lawsuits if they dare to use the term for public events. The only thing “radical” about the company is its departure from the term’s rich history of creating collaborative, reciprocal, accessible, participatory community-based media. Recently I came across an advert the company made for Walmart, starring Hans Zimmer. In the advert, entitled “The Walmart Box” and directed by Hollywood filmmaker Nancy Meyers,…read more

Without a doubt, Coca-Cola is one of the worst companies on the planet. From its murderous human rights violations stamping out unions in Latin America (especially at Colombian bottling plants) to its marketing to youngsters to its environmental record (especially concerning water), it is hands down a terrible corporation getting away with incredible harm on this planet. So it’s refreshing indeed to see Killer Coke get its comeuppance in this amazing Australian Greenpeace TV advert about Coke and plastic pollution. While it’s not surprising that Coke is blocking a new…read more

“Divest from the Royal Bank of Canada, close your accounts, tell RBC to stop funding the tar sands project.” This was the advice filmmaker Shannon Walsh gave an audience in Toronto after a screening in 2009 of her documentary on the Alberta tar sands project, H2OIL. Someone in the audience, noticeably moved by the film’s critical exploration of Alberta’s cash-cow and the planet’s eco-nightmare, had asked Walsh the dreaded question, “OK but what is something we can do right now?” Where many filmmakers would read out the laundry list of…read more

I saw this amazing advert recently (or more correctly, PSA – Public Service Announcement) by Duval Guillaume, commissioned by Medicins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders). It’s called “Human Ball” with the tagline, “Don’t let AIDS gain more ground.” It is a simple concept, with fairly straightforward computer animation, but the lasting effect is superbly moving: what effects one of us, ultimately effects many of us. The video was produced for their campaign against AIDS. Thanks to Alternative Channel for the embedding code and for housing the ACT (Advertising Community Together)…read more